Your Views: Right wingers pull GOP down the wrong path

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The GOP moderates have (quietly) spoken. Rick Santorum is out, Newt Gingrich is bankrupt and the party is not conservative.

Contemporary American politics has redefined the term “conservative.” What once represented a philosophy of restraint has become more synonymous with unrestrained fringe.

The tea party and social conservatives are vociferous and adamantly represented by their cable television outlet, but the ultra-right wingers are a small and decreasingly influential portion of the American population, evidenced by their futile attempt to deny their party’s candidacy to a “severe” moderate.

The conservatives that have attempted to usurp the Republican throne are the puffer fish of the political sea, and their lack of populous substance and consensual leadership is suggestive of another floundering group of political loudmouths that no longer, shall we say, occupy the headlines. But fortunately for America, the seemingly powerful conservative base behind the curtain has been exposed.

The far right may have formed an anti-government coalition of the most vocal gun-toters, Bible thumpers and Wall Streeters, but the message from this group is an unpalatable smorgasbord of what each sect believes in most passionately. Such effusive passion for unrelated causes precludes mainstream Republicans from affiliating with the conservative extremists, and not surprisingly, AARP members obviously prefer something a bit more tepid.

The fate of Santorum and Gingrich is a death blow to those who label themselves as conservatives. Like the “1 percenters” on the left, it appears the GOPs squeaky faction is now destined to an inconsequential, politically nomadic course. The members were unable to find and agree upon a unifying figurehead, and the reason for this is simple: No one qualified enough to lead the far right is masochistic enough to welcome the ignorance and lack of reason that comprise a fringe element of society. Even Donald Trump and Sarah Palin realized this.

When book deals, reality television and punditry take precedent over an opportunity to lead America away from a proclaimed socialist state, rational Republicans have a right to question the authenticity and legitimacy of the conservative cause.